NY Times selling assets to cover losses

From the WSJ:

Seeking to fortify its core assets, New York Times Co. is actively shopping its stake in the holding company of the Boston Red Sox baseball club, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

Times Co., which faces a cash shortage accelerated by steep industrywide revenue declines, has been rumored for months to be open to selling noncore assets. Besides its flagship newspaper, Times Co. owns the Boston Globe, About.com and a 17.5% stake in New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Red Sox, their fabled ballpark Fenway Park and most of the cable network that airs the team's games.

Times Co. pushed discussions beyond the exploration phase early last month at a quarterly meeting of NESV's limited partners, at which the company indicated to the partnership its intention to sell. Since then Times Co. has been pursuing potential buyers, according to people familiar with the discussions. Barclays Capital has pegged the value of the investment at about $166 million. A spokeswoman for the company declined to comment.

Times Co. acquired its stake in NESV when it joined John Henry in the hedge-fund billionaire's $700 million purchase of the Red Sox in 2002. The company is the second-largest shareholder behind Mr. Henry, who created NESV. The stake was supposed to shore up the Globe's advertising position in New England by packaging the Globe with New England Sports Network, one of the most powerful television outlets in the region. But it wasn't enough to stop the decline in advertisers and readers. . . .